ICONIC writer Eric Chappell who created sitcoms Rising Damp and Home to Roost has died aged 88.
The hit TV show creator won a Bafta in 1978 for Rising Damp which starred Leonard Rossiter and Frances de la tour.
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Star of Home to Roost Reece Dinsdale confirmed that Mr Chalppell had died on Thursday, paying tribute to the writing legend.
He said: “Just heard that Eric Chappell, the writer of Home To Roost, Rising Damp & many other shows died on Thursday.
“Thank you for everything you did for me, Sir… your scripts were a complete joy to play.
“Great times! My love & deepest sympathies to his friends & family.”
Born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, in September 1933, Chappell worked as an auditor for the East Midlands Electricity Board for 22 years.
Several of his novels were rejected by publishers before he decided to become a playwright,.
His Yorkshire-set play The Banana Box staged at the Hampstead Theatre Club in 1970 before moving to the West End three years later.
The play was adapted to become Rising Damp, which ITV broadcast over four series from 1974 to 1978.
Rising Damp tells the story of miserly landlord, called Rupert Rigsby, who rents out a seedy Victorian townhouse to a motley crew of tenants.
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It won the 1978 Bafta for Best Situation Comedy and was adapted into a film released in 1980.
Chappell later wrote Home to Roost, which aired from 1985 to 1990 and starred John Thaw as a divorcee whose solitary life in London is interrupted by the arrival of his teenage son, played by Dinsdale.
Fatherland author Robert Harris said his father had worked with Chappell’s at a print factory in Grantham and they “used to swap stories about their sons”.
Harris added he “loved” Rising Damp, adding Chappell “always sounded a really delightful man”.
Jed Mercurio, creator of BBC’s Line of Duty also paid tribute to the playwright, calling him “one of the all-time greats”.
He added: “His brilliant comedies entertained millions, week in week out, for decades.”
